Australia’s Family Jewels head to Scotland

The Arts Centre’s successful Icon Exhibition – AC/DC Australia’s Family Jewels, presented in partnership with AC/DC, Albert Music and Sony Music, has just completed its Australian tour and is about to head overseas.

The Australian tour, generously funded by Visions Australia, included the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin and our touring partners the Western Australian Museum in Perth. WA Museum CEO Alec Coles said the exhibition had been a huge success. “The exhibition has attracted more than 80,000 people to WAM, and what has been great has been the diversity of visitors – this is not just an exhibition for fans – although they, of course, love it – it is for anyone interested in contemporary music and musical culture in Australia.”

AC/DC Australia’s Family Jewels has attracted an incredible 415,000 visitors during its Australian display. This fantastic response shows that popular culture exhibitions, celebrating contemporary Australian performers have a real place not only within the Arts Centre’s programming mix but also for museum audiences, especially as they attract a different and perhaps first time visitor.

The exhibition arrived back home to Melbourne yesterday where it will be prepared for the next leg of its journey. We are currently unpacking, photographing, condition reporting, and re-packing the 38 crates of material which includes Angus Young’s early schoolboy outfit and guitar, many of Bon Scott’s letters and his leather jacket. All of the delicate costumes, stage props, photographs, notebooks, early concert posters and lyrics along with heaps of exhibition hardware have to be checked and prepared for a the international tour to Glasgow and another (currently secret!) location.

Our small team in Collections, Research and Exhibitions are really proud to be one of the only Australian cultural organisations touring major exhibitions of Australian content internationally. Next stop is Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, Scotland (17th September 2011 to 12th February 2012), followed by a second soon-to-be-announced destination in the USA.

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Performing Arts Collection

Arts Centre Melbourne's Performing Arts Collection is the national leader among specialist performing arts collections in Australia. Established in 1975, it is formally recognised as a State collection and encompasses the history of circus, dance, music, opera and theatre. The Collection features over 640,000 items including costumes, designs, photographs, set models, puppets, props, posters, programs and archives.
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Arts Centre Melbourne is the proud custodian of Australia's leading Performing Arts Collection.

"Not some boring, dry, museum; but a living, growing entertainment for the whole family. The Performing Arts Collection is a treasure trove of the Australian performing arts." - Barry Humphries, Patron.

Established in 1975, it encompasses the history of circus, dance, music, opera and theatre. The Collection now holds over 640,000 items including costumes, designs, photographs, set models, puppets, props, posters, programs and archives.